Colorado Christian University Gains Backing for Religious ...
http://www.christianpost.com/article/education/1088/section/colorado.christian.university.gains.backing.for.religious.discrimination.case/1.htm
Christian Post - San Francisco,CA,USA
Colorado Christian University Gains Backing for Religious Discrimination
Case
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006 Posted: 8:01:51PM EST
The Department of Justice argued in favor of Colorado Christian University,
which filed suit against the Colorado Commission on Higher Education for
discrimination against religious schools and universities.
In a brief filed last month, the Justice Department agreed CCU should be
allowed to participate in the state student aid programs on the same terms
as other higher education institutions in Colorado.
CCU filed the lawsuit through the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law
& Religious Freedom in December 2004 for CCHE's denial to accept the
Christian university's application for a $2,400-per-year state stipend.
CCHE’s decision was based on state law as the commission labeled CCU as
"pervasively sectarian."
The Lakewood-based University, however, argued that the decision amounted
to discrimination, which the Justice Department also recently backed. Their
suit alleged that Colorado's exclusion of CCU and its students from state
aid programs violates the Free Exercise Clause, the Establishment Clause,
and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
"We filed this lawsuit in order to end religious discrimination in
Colorado’s state student aid programs," said Dr. Larry Donnithorne,
president of CCU.
"Colorado's religiously discriminatory student aid laws reflect an outdated
understanding of 'separation of church and state,'" said Center for Law &
Religious Freedom Director Gregory S. Baylor when the lawsuit was made.
The Justice Department’s filed brief mentioned the U.S. Supreme Court
ruling that if state money goes directly to students, who use it at the
college of their choice, it does not violate the separation of church and
state.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held in recent years that the
Constitution does not require government to discriminate against religion,"
Baylor added.
Rick O'Donnell, executive director for CCHE, said he welcomed the Justice
Department's opinion.
O'Donnell called the state law "bad public policy,” according to Rocky
Mountain News, and said lawmakers could vote to change the law this spring.
Otherwise, the case could proceed to trial.
Audrey Barrick
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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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